For now, “process writing” refers to a broad range of strategies that include pre-writing activities such as defining audience, using a variety of resources, planning the writing as well as drafting and revising, which is associated with higher average writing proficiency among students. Critics of process writing say "the process of creating text made writing into by-products." In other words, the actual words and expressions that students produce do not genuinely reflect the student as a person, and thus the writing process is so limiting that it destructs the positive mind set of our young writers. However, proponents claim that "only by valuing the process do we help students discover,"the art and soul" of writing". Rather than being restrictive, the writing process, to proportionate is something that allows students to truly understand writing, and it is important for students to know how useful strategies included in the writing process can be. The writing process is not only about going through the steps of the process, but include many sub-processes such as building background ability,developing process to stimulate background information, micro-level skills and macro-level skills. The sub-process cannot be ignored when examining the act of writing. It can be concluded that writers and the writing process is unique and complex. Because writing is so complicated, there have been few studies that investigate its complicated and multi-layered processes. In teaching today, the controversy of teaching the process approach versus the teaching of various genres of writing is one that persists. A misconception that exists in the writing process is that "direct instruction does not exist"; however, a teacher’s role and modeling writing show positive effects on the quality of students’ writing. Teachers must support each students individual style while guiding them on one clear path to expression, and future studies need to be studied as variables influencing writing. There are many theories on writing, but not all are based on research, so the study of the writing process needs research to back them up.
Chris - My main take away from this section is similar to the views given above--because writing is a complex "multilayered" process about which there remains a great many unanswered questions, we should not be overconfident about any teaching method. We have evidence that a process approach yields better results than a traditional approach, but product is also important, and it does not appear that a focus on process will solve all problems for all students. The question, then, is what should guide us when research runs thin and a student encounters problems?
This is where I would argue the workshop and conferring model shines. Feedback from teachers who are active writers and readers provides students with an idea of whether their writing succeeds, why it succeeds, as well as some well-informed suggestions on how to improve. Time to write in turn allows students to figure out problems intuitively for which research does not have an explicit answer. Thus, the main strength of a workshop approach is not so much its marriage to a process attitude--it is rather the freedom it gives students in experimenting with their own writerly problems.
Above all, however, we should be concerned with results. Is a student improving as a writer? Does the student find writing at least sometimes positively reinforcing? If not, we should not be bound by ideology but take whatever creative approach we can that yields good writerly results.
Yue:
After reading the chapter, I learn about that during an amount of time of writing process, As far as I can see, over the past 30 years, the definition and elements of the writing process have been reinterpreted. In my opinion, the two key components of the teaching writing is prewriting and revising. By giving them time to write in class every single day our students can cultivate a habit of writing then they will know how to pick a topic, get started and revise step by step. The goal of revision instruction is to offer students an opportunity to improve their paper because revision has been understood not as a step in which the author corrects errors but as a process of discovering what one has to say and adapting the text to maximize the clarity of the message. What’s more, the research on the writing process is also important because it can offer a vocabulary for talking about the nature of writing.
As an educator, I’m looking forward to using those methods and instructions to guide students to find the art and soul of writing.
Ina - My only thought so far that would add to what they have already written is that some of the social benefits mentioned were beneficial to the students - peer editing and group work were positive social interactions.
Chris - My main take away from this section is similar to the views given above--because writing is a complex "multilayered" process about which there remains a great many unanswered questions, we should not be overconfident about any teaching method. We have evidence that a process approach yields better results than a traditional approach, but product is also important, and it does not appear that a focus on process will solve all problems for all students. The question, then, is what should guide us when research runs thin and a student encounters problems?
This is where I would argue the workshop and conferring model shines. Feedback from teachers who are active writers and readers provides students with an idea of whether their writing succeeds, why it succeeds, as well as some well-informed suggestions on how to improve. Time to write in turn allows students to figure out problems intuitively for which research does not have an explicit answer. Thus, the main strength of a workshop approach is not so much its marriage to a process attitude--it is rather the freedom it gives students in experimenting with their own writerly problems.
Above all, however, we should be concerned with results. Is a student improving as a writer? Does the student find writing at least sometimes positively reinforcing? If not, we should not be bound by ideology but take whatever creative approach we can that yields good writerly results.
Yue:
After reading the chapter, I learn about that during an amount of time of writing process, As far as I can see, over the past 30 years, the definition and elements of the writing process have been reinterpreted. In my opinion, the two key components of the teaching writing is prewriting and revising. By giving them time to write in class every single day our students can cultivate a habit of writing then they will know how to pick a topic, get started and revise step by step. The goal of revision instruction is to offer students an opportunity to improve their paper because revision has been understood not as a step in which the author corrects errors but as a process of discovering what one has to say and adapting the text to maximize the clarity of the message. What’s more, the research on the writing process is also important because it can offer a vocabulary for talking about the nature of writing.
As an educator, I’m looking forward to using those methods and instructions to guide students to find the art and soul of writing.
Ina - My only thought so far that would add to what they have already written is that some of the social benefits mentioned were beneficial to the students - peer editing and group work were positive social interactions.
Dark Green = Diana